Getting your web content Google ready

You don’t need to be technical to do this, the vast majority is just common sense. Put yourself in Google’s shoes and ask yourself how you would choose which websites to put at the top of the list against any given search? You’d want to know that the winning websites offered:

Content relevant to the search term, probably mentioning it two or three times.

Content relevant to similar terms – Google’s algorithms understand things that are naturally grouped together in business and social environments

Fresh content – if it’s not up to date, it’s out of date, and who wants old information?

Substantial content – not reams, but maybe between 250 and 350 words to indicate it is a subject you are taking seriously

External links to other sites with relevance to your search term or with significant credibility, which while not as important as they used to be, confirm you exist as a credible source in your own right.

Google take these things seriously because they matter to the searching public. If the search engine consistently failed to deliver results that answered your questions, you’d stop using it and their revenue streams would start to suffer.

Getting your web content Google ready

So the most important thing you can do is understand the search terms people use to find a product or service like yours (try looking at your Google Analytics data, or simply ask existing customers or networking colleagues or even friends what they would use). Often people express these as questions, e.g. ‘how to blog effectively’. Write yourself a list and use that as your key phrases you will use to build new content.

By the time you’ve done this, all you have to do is write your content on each topic, using this rough guide to help:

Aim for between 250 and 350 words

Use the key phrase in exactly the same format in the title, at least one of your headings and again either once or twice in the content

Use an image, with the key phrase in its title, and set the alt tag to the key phrase

Link to somewhere else on your site, e.g. more details, or even a contact page

Link to an external site if you can (remember to set the link to open a new window so your website is still there when they want to go back to you)

If you find you don’t have time to write great web content, just get in touch as this is a service we offer, both directly if your industry is one we have experience in, or indirectly through our network of trusted content writers. We can also advise you on some free tools you can use to help you hone your content writing skills.